Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from
2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Argentina.htm
Argentina is a
source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children
trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced
labor. Many victims are trafficked within the country, from rural areas to
urban centers, for forced prostitution. Some Argentine women and girls are
trafficked to neighboring countries, Mexico, and Western Europe for
commercial sexual exploitation. Foreign women and children, primarily from
Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, are trafficked to
Argentina for the same purpose. A significant number of Bolivians,
Paraguayans, and Peruvians are trafficked into the country for forced labor
in sweatshops and agriculture. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 ... Check out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include possible precursors of trafficking such as poverty. There is a lot to the subject
of Trafficking. Scan other countries
as well. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Clamping Down on
Human Trafficking Marcela Valente,
IPS-Inter Press Service, www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35414 [accessed 19 January
2011] www.ipsnews.net/2006/11/argentina-clamping-down-on-human-trafficking/ [accessed 4
September 2016] Susana Trimarco, whose daughter was kidnapped in 2002, told IPS
that the proposal for a specific policy is an encouragement to her in her search
for her daughter. Trimarco,
who attended the seminar, was able to prove that her daughter Marita Verón, 24, fell into the hands of a sexual exploitation
ring. After she was kidnapped, her mother obtained testimonies from other
teenagers and young people, also victims of trafficking, who had seen her in
different places of captivity in several provinces in the country. Although she has not been able to find her
daughter, the investigative work she and other activists have carried out has
led to the rescue of 94 people. Global March Worst
Forms of Child Labour Report 2005 The US Dept. of
Labor's 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour beta.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/argentina.html [accessed 16 August
2012] CHILD SLAVERY - . In a recent raid by the police, Bolivian boys were discovered working as slaves in an Argentine factory; These boys were forced to work 19-hour shifts, they are prohibited from leaving, and they are often beaten to keep up the pace. Authorities are still investigating how these undocumented youths slipped past the border. The minors continued to work for almost two years, still receiving no pay, and falling into further debt imposed by their 'owners.' All too often those who risk coming to the city center find themselves working in factory jobs in conditions of contemporary slavery. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Argentina U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/argentina/
[accessed 10 May
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Employers subjected a significant number of Bolivians, Paraguayans, and Peruvians, as well as Argentines from poorer northern provinces, to forced labor in the garment sector, agriculture, street vending, charcoal and brick production, construction, domestic work, and small businesses (including restaurants and supermarkets). Traffickers exploited Chinese citizens working in supermarkets to debt bondage. Traffickers compelled trafficking victims to transport drugs through the country’s borders. Men, women, and children were victims of forced labor, although victims’ typical gender and age varied by employment sector (see section 7.c.). PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Children were engaged in the worst forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, including forced labor in domestic servitude, agriculture, and production of garments, and illicit activities such as the transport and sale of drugs. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/argentina/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 19 March
2020] G3. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY PERSONAL SOCIAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING CHOICE OF MARRIAGE PARTNER AND SIZE
OF FAMILY, PROTECTION FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, AND CONTROL OVER APPEARANCE? Violence against
women remains a serious problem. Activists continue to hold highly visible
protests and events aimed at drawing attention to the issue. According to
official data, less than 5 percent of murder cases against women from 2018
ended in convictions. G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Some industries like
garment and brick production profit from the forced labor of men, women, and
children from Argentina as well as from neighboring countries; forced labor
is also present in the agriculture sector and among domestic workers and
street vendors. Exploitation is made easier by the prevalence of informal
work: more than a third of Argentines work in the informal sector, without
proper benefits or formal legal protections. Men, women, and
children are subject to sex trafficking. The government maintained the use of
a hotline to facilitate investigations and has worked to identify more
victims, deliver antitrafficking trainings, and
prosecute officials involved in trafficking, according to the US State
Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 15 April 2019]
www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 22 April
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 106] Although the extent
of the problem is unknown, reports indicate that girls from Argentina’s
Northern provinces are victims of human trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation. (51; 52) Bolivian children and children of Bolivian immigrants
in Argentina engage in child labor in agriculture, production of bricks, and
domestic service, and in forced child labor in the production of garments.
(16; 44; 53; 37) Reports also indicate that Paraguayan children are victims
of trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation in
Argentina. (54; 51) In 2017, adults
used girls as young as 13 years old to distribute drugs in nightclubs. (47)
In the Northern and Western provinces, indigenous children were used to move
drugs across the border. (55; 56; 57). Argentina Rescues
700 from Human Traffickers in 7 Months Victoria Rossi, In
Sight, 21 August 2012 www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/argentina-rescues-human-traffickers [accessed 11 June
2013] www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/argentina-rescues-human-traffickers/ [accessed 13 August
2020 Most of the
trafficking victims, principally women and children, had been sexually
exploited and forced into labor, the report by the Office for Rescue and Care
of Victims of Trafficking stated. Of the 712 people recovered during more
than 300 raids across the country, 85 were below the age of 18. Nearly 370
hailed from outside Argentina. Many of the victims
were financially desperate and had been lured by false advertisements for nanny
or modeling positions, said Zaida Gatti, the coordinator of rescue efforts, reported El
Universal newspaper. Others had been kidnapped, Gatti
said. ARGENTINA:
Recruiting Celebs Against Trafficking in Women Marcela Valente,
IPS-Inter Press Service, www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36936 [accessed 19 January
2011] www.ipsnews.net/2007/03/argentina-recruiting-celebs-against-trafficking-in-women/ [accessed 4
September 2016] One case that
attracted public notice in Argentina is that of Marita Verón,
23, who was kidnapped in the northwestern province of Tucumán in 2002. Her
mother, Susana Trimarco, has been looking for her
ever since, and although she has not found Marita yet, her search has shed
light on the nature of the trade, and has secured the release of many other
young women. Trimarco, honoured this month as a "Woman of Courage" by
the U.S. State Department, infiltrated provincial brothels to find
information which led to the rescue of nearly 100 young women, the
prosecution of 24 members of recruiting networks, and the removal from office
of a judge who was accused of being an accomplice. However, she said there was a lack of
political will to combat the organisations that
dupe women with fancy job offers. Trimarco said the
information she has received from the families of other victims and from the
police indicates that there are about 500 missing young women in Argentina
who may have been trapped by human traffickers. One of them is her daughter
Marita, who according to several testimonies collected by Trimarco
is still alive. Open letter from
Amnesty International to the Governor of Santa Fe Province, Sr. Jorge Obeid Guadalupe Marengo,
Amnesty International, February 6, 2004 -- Index Number: AMR 13/003/2004 www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR13/003/2004 [accessed 19 January
2011] www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/amr130032004en.pdf [accessed 26 May
2017] Sandra Cabrera had
complained publicly, and to the provincial authorities, about the continuous
harassment of female sex workers and extortion on the part of members of the
provincial police force, providing dates and the names of those responsible.
As you are no doubt aware, in December 2003 Sandra Cabrera was subjected to a
beating in her home by unidentified individuals, while the police protection
she had finally been granted was outside her front door. Our information is
that on Friday, 23 January 2004, Sandra Cabrera had accompanied one of her
friends, Stella Maris Longoni, and confirmed the
latest complaint before the Rosario Prosecutor’s Office against members of
the Departamento de Moralidad(vice
squad ) for extortion and harassment. ILO to mark World
Day Against Child Labour International Labour Organization (ILO) News, www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/news/WCMS_005279/lang--en/index.htm [accessed 28 August
2012] FROM LATIN AMERICA - The Triple
Border region - where Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, April 10, 2002 sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/0/3567bf5c062c819e41256c5d0043aa0b?OpenDocument [accessed 19 January
2011] [61] In light of
articles 32 to 36 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State
party: (a) Undertake a study on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation
and trafficking of children in order to assess its scope and causes and
develop effective monitoring and other preventive measures; The Protection Project - Argentina The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/argentina.doc [accessed 2009] www.protectionproject.org/country-reports/ [accessed 22
February 2016] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Thousands of
women have been trafficked from the Dominican Republic to Argentina for
forced prostitution. A recent study
revealed that the majority of Dominican female migrants in Argentina were 20
to 39 years of age and almost 90 percent had children, most of whom were left in the Dominican Republic in the care of
others. Most of the women paid US$2,000 for the trip to Argentina, where they
were promised work as domestic helpers for US$500 to US$800 per month. More
than 50 percent had been forced into prostitution. Women and girls are
trafficked into Argentina from Paraguay expecting to work as domestic
employees but are then forced into prostitution. Bolivian women and children
are trafficked to Argentina for domestic servitude as well as prostitution. In July 2000, Bolivian nationals trafficked 24 Bolivian girls to Argentina for purposes of
prostitution. The brothel owner’s mother recruited children from outdoor
markets in the rural areas of Bolivia, promising the children and their
parents that the children could work as criaditas,
or little maids, in Argentina. The children traveled by plane and were
accompanied by the brothel owner’s husband. When the case was brought to
light, 16 of the girls were repatriated. The remaining girls, legally adults at
the time of the investigation, remained in Argentina. The recruiter, the
brothel owner’s husband, the owner of the travel agency where the tickets and
visas were obtained, and the brothel owner were charged with forcing minors
into prostitution. Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/americas/argentina [accessed 19 January
2011] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/argentina/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 22 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Some sectors of the
charcoal and brick-producing industries profit from the forced labor of men,
women, and children from Argentina as well as from neighboring countries;
forced labor is also present in the agriculture sector and among domestic
workers and street vendors. Men, women, and children are subject to sex
trafficking. The government has taken steps to better fund programs to assist
victims of human trafficking and draw public awareness to the problem,
according to the U.S. State Department’s 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report. 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/wha/277303.htm
[accessed 12 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/argentina/ [accessed 24 June 2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Forced labor
occurred. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security carried out
300,000 inspections during the 2016-17 term and
found various irregularities and potential cases of forced labor, four of
which became formal judicial complaints. Efforts to hold perpetrators
accountable continued during the year, including the sentencing in September
of a rural employer to three and a half years of prison for labor trafficking
involving a farmhand, his wife, and their four children. Most of the victims
were discovered on agricultural farms and in commercial and service
activities. Employers subjected a significant number of Bolivians,
Paraguayans, and Peruvians, as well as Argentines from poorer northern
provinces, to forced labor in the garment sector, agriculture, construction,
domestic work, and small businesses (including restaurants and supermarkets).
There were reports that Chinese citizens were victims of forced labor in
supermarkets. Men, women, and children were victims of forced labor, although
victims’ typical gender and age varied by employment sector. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61713.htm [accessed 4 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– While there were no official reports on the activities of traffickers, the
media reported that traffickers often presented themselves as employment
agencies or even as individual recruiters. Traffickers confiscated travel
documents to prevent victims from appealing to authorities for protection.
Victims, particularly women and girls in prostitution, may be denied contact
with the outside world. Victims often were threatened or beaten. SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [c] While the law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by
children, there were reports that such practices occurred. An investigation into an apparent case of
forced labor involving potentially hundreds of Bolivian citizens working in
clothing sweatshops in Flores Sur, a neighborhood in the city of The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/argentina.htm [accessed 19 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are trafficked to Argentina from Bolivia,
Brazil, and Paraguay for sexual exploitation and labor. Argentine
children are trafficked from rural to urban areas of the country and there is
some trafficking of children abroad, mainly into prostitution in All
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